I don’t drink beer nor do I particularly enjoy beer. If I attend an NFL game, I don’t want a beer — I want a glass of decent wine. I’m not even looking for Opus One in the stadium, but merely a palatable wine choice. In their home at Oracle Park the San Francisco Giants pay a Master Sommelier to curate wine for their concessions. Most people are not searching for master somm’s help but merely desire decent glass of wine that is not deplorable to drink. Barefoot Bubbly, a cheap sparking wine at roughly 10 bucks SRP, costs more than 40 bucks in Seahawks Stadium. I find it to be an essentially undrinkable sparkling wine. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t make a mimosa with this wine. Tapped & Corked, the Seahawks Stadium ‘Wine Bar’ (in Sections 119, 139) only serves Barefoot Wines. This leaves the consumer with no adequate wine at all games if you are not paying extra for club level seats.
For those who are wine lovers and attending NFL games, this is a pretty grim time. I remember going to games more than ten years ago and having no decent wine at the games. The current situation in 2026 is completely anachronistic. NFL stadiums are being inundated with Gallo’s Barefoot Wines brand. In 2022 Barefoot Wines became the official wine brand of the NFL and Barefoot has a US volume of more than 18 million cases annually. This is a lot of financial power and they have slowly been kicking out other wine brands from the stadium, creating essentially a monopoly. Gone from Seahawks Stadium are local wines from Dunham Cellars, Andrew Januik, Januik, Sparkman and L’Ecole No 41. You won't find local wines from Napa and Sonoma at 49ers games either unless you're in a suite. Barefoot utilizes celebrity voices such as Donna Kelce and Simone Biles in their advertisements. I don’t understand this stadium Barefoot monopoly other than being purely driven by cash. As an example, the NFL has an official beer but the beer does not have a monopoly on the stadium.
Washington has a vibrant wine culture and is one of the United State’s top regions for high quality wines at a good price. Despite this, Seahawks Stadium has chosen to not have any Washington wine for patrons not seated at Club Level. While you can’t get decent wine for normal seats at Seahawks Stadium, according to L’Ecole No. 41 COO Ryan Pennington, L’Ecole wines remain in the club level at Seahawks stadium. Pennington agrees with my sentiments that you don’t want to see “people forced to drink Gallo in Washington wine country.” Suites at LA’s SoFi stadium have some top wines . But you don’t see these wines at their concessions for non-suite patrons. The same is true at San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium that serve Wine Spritzers and they don’t have any decent wine options if you are not seated at the suite level. California Wine Country must be disgusted by 49ers fans not seated in the suite levels actually having only one wine choice -- Barefoot Wines out of a milk carton!
The Barefoot Wines takeover is not only an issue in West Coast stadiums but other parts of the United States suffer this same fate. Gone from New Orleans Saints games are the fun and chic Veuve Clicquot vendors with matching stemware. This has been replaced with wine racks filled with Barefoot Wines! I used to adore the wine experience at the Superdome in New Orleans where they always had a really nice range of wines that was consistent with their enophile culture.
Mel Evans and Jon Celino, Saints fans and New Orleans natives have seen this Barefoot takeover first hand. Evans explained “You spent the extra money to be in the club section and you only can have Barefoot. This is why we buy the club seats, to have nice wine options, and this year the only wine was Barefoot. This was across the board in the entire Superdome.” Evens mentioned “The Superdome hired a new company this year and a lot of major changes were made, including no New Orleans foods anymore. Gone are Gumbo and Jambalaya.” She and Celino enjoy wine at home and like most people expect to receive a premium product for a premium price when they buy their club level seats. Evans explained “we paid to come to the game and you feel ripped off. I refused to drink Barefoot I really only drink wine so not having wine as an option makes the experience at the game less enjoyable.” Last year the Superdome had a much better range of offerings for wine “And now they only had Barefoot” she noted.
Evans and Celino find this against the culture of New Orleans to serve cheap wine. “And we are a huge food and wine city. I shared this issue [Barefoot Wines issue] on Facebook with the Saints and called out the Superdome and a person actually reached out to me and said that they have changed companies and this is all they will get [with no clear explanation]. The rest of the season nothing changed, only Barefoot wines.” She explained “The NFL has an official beer but you don’t take away all beer options at the stadium. This situation is definitely not worth the price, you don’t get what you pay for with the club tickets. Premium ticket and given a bottom shelf choice. I don’t want to leave the game with a headache.”
Met Life Stadium, home of the NFL’s Jets and Giants in New Jersey also has been dealing with the Barefoot stadium takeover. Unless you are at the club or suite level, Met Life Stadium doesn’t even have a wine bar (https://www.metlifestadium.com/plan-your-visit/dining-options-locations). This obviously goes against New York being one of the world’s epicenters for wine.

In truth, companies do things for money and sometimes the consumer doesn’t get the better end of the deal. Such is the case with the Barefoot Wines takeover in NFL stadiums, leaving the consumer without any decent wine options for those paying hundreds upon hundreds of dollars for their game tickets.